Reaching
by Zarius
Summary: Benny is given a cup, but what purpose does it serve when there is nothing to drink from it?


**WIZARDS VS ALIENS:**

**REACHING**

**WRITTEN BY ZARIUS**

**Disclaimer: **_Wizards vs Aliens_ is trademarked by BBC Worldwide. No profit shall be made from this

* * *

><p>Benny was looking forward to spending a games night with Tom at his house. What they needed before the school term began again was a nice solid round of the card game 'Infiltration'. A game all about trying to manipulate the other player into trusting someone who is secretly an alien spy.<p>

Tom had been thoroughly engaged in it ever since the Nekross King had fled Earth many months ago to salvage what was left of his empire, leaving Earth and Wizardkind free to carry on in it's own harmonious pathway.

When he reached Tom's house and knocked on the door, wise Ursula emerged to visit him

"Hi, is Tom in? Figured we could squeeze in one big 'round of games before we sit through another 'round of surprise tests tomorrow. You know how teachers are like, always wanting to challenge you at the fight sight of a foot stepping into the classroom"

"He'll be in just a moment Ben, come in and have a cup" said Ursula, leading Benny into the living area and setting him up with an empty cup

"There's nothing in it" said Benny

"Yes, I said you could have a cup" said Ursula

"But it's empty" insisted

"Is there now?" said Ursula. "Do you trust the cup?"

"Trust the cup?"

"It's harmless to you, it doesn't judge, it doesn't do much of anything, it's just completely still"

"Yes, that's because it has no sentience, it isn't alive"

"And yet it still has purpose, it exists to hold something strong, something warm, something that, in it's own way, and what we take for granted, is magical"

"You're capable of conjuring up powerful protective force fields and bend the conventional rules of the realms of reality, and you're trying to sell me on the regularity of tea?"

"The ordinary has always had a stronger bind to reality than the extraordinary, it's the simpler things we choose to acknowledge that make accept a turn to the strange, the..."

"...Alien?" Benny finished for her. Ursula nodded.

"We lose no sight of self, because we believe in the purpose of these items, holding something so simple in our hands, collecting our thoughts, and through less tense moments of reflection, we quench our thirst. Sit, nurse the cup, quench your thirst"

"How can I quench my thirst if there's nothing to drink?"

"Hi Gran, Ben" said Tom as he passed through, clutching a photo album

"Hey champion, ready to defend your title as the reigning and defending Infiltration king?" said Benny

"Not tonight Benny, hits a bit close to home"

"What's that you got there?" asked Benny

"Clippings. Articles from the private Skype chats I've been having with the network of Wizardkind, we're thinking of giving it a name...a little play on Twitter...Wizzer or something. It's ok, most people online think it's some role-playing group, completely harmless"

"Ordinary things again" said Ursula

"The site's been sending me photos, sightings, of people matching the description of Lexi and Benny Jr"

"You told them about the two of them?"

"I didn't state the nature of their origins, just that they were...lost family, I said I didn't want to contact them. Not just yet. Just...keep tabs on them, any sighting, from a distance, and to send the pictures and videos back to me. They're doing ok. Just...brilliant. Benny Jr is getting much taller, and it's only been a couple of months since I took the salute and conjured him back up. He always tended to grow whenever I thought of him. Anyway, I've got enough surveillance photos of them to sort of look over before school tomorrow, quench my thirst"

"A thirst for knowledge, am I right?" said Benny.

"Reaching" said Tom.

Benny nodded, understanding at last.

"I'd offer you tea, but I think you've already been given something warm to digest" she said.

Benny smiled, and gave Tom a reassuring thumbs up.

In a world that had seen extraordinary feats of sorcery, science, and space come together, locked in a valiant back-and-forth struggle, it was nice to see people still grasp for the simplicities of life


End file.
